GIU Winners

Thank you all for your lovely comments last week. They were so nice to read!

Here are the two random winners I drew:

• Chris in CT
• Rebecca Yahrling

Please email me (amberloyana @yahoo.com) your mailing address and I will forward that to Unity. Enjoy your new stamps!

GIU Day 5

It's my final day of my Growing in Unity week!

I had planned on making a scrapbooking page today but I had so much fun playing in my art journal yesterday that I had to do it again.

I only had a few minutes, so I quickly spread some paint then washed over it with watered-down gesso to mute it. Stamped a few background stamps and smudged some distress crayons on the edges.

I used Keep Going Anyway for the butterflies and sentiment. Then finally a little black ink splattered finished it off. 

Remember to leave a comment on my GIU posts fromt his week to be entered to win a fabulous prize of stamps from Unity!

Thanks to you all for stopping by this week. I've loved reading all your comments!

GIU Day 4

It's Day 4 of my Growing in Unity week!

Today, I pulled out my art journal for a really simple, but fun page.

I started with the Window to the Soul large stamp. I just love these Donna Downey face stamps from Unity! The sentiment is from another Donna Downey set called She.

Then I just used a few spray inks to spread some color. I dripped the ink and then blew it out. Oh my goodness, I almost passed out from all the blowing. Little tidbit - I couldn't blow up a balloon until I was 37! Anyway, that's just my way of saying it was hard!

Thanks for stopping by today and make sure you comment on my GIU posts this week for your chance to win a prize pack from Unity Stamps.

GIU Day 3

 It's day 3 of my Growing In Unity week.
I will post a new project each day this week using Unity stamps. At the end of the week, I will get to randomly pick two of you to win a prize from Unity. All you need to do is comment on my blog posts. You can comment on each day for up to 5 chances at winning.

Today I made this card:

The background was made with Vintage Handwritten and lots of spray and distress inks.
I love the large peony from the Donna Peony set and used it as the focal image.
The beautiful sentiment is from Keep Going Anyway.

Thanks for stopping by today!

GIU Day 2

It's day 2 of my Growing in Unity week at the Unity Stamp blog.

It's also National Cocoa week. 

So I've got this little cocoa tag for today.

I love the little sweater cozy mug from the Our Heart to Yours stamp kit so I had to use it today!

Make sure to comment on my GIU posts this week M-F to be entered to win a prize pack from Unity.

I'm also linking this up to the Winter Coffee Lovers blog hop. Come check it out for a chance to win more prizes from lots of companies (including Unity).

Thanks for stopping by.

GIU, Day 1

You probably know that Unity Stamp Co. is one of my most favorite stamp companies around. Every week they have a feature they call Growing in Unity (GIU) in which they feature a lucky crafter/customer/fan on their blog. This week I am the GIU girl! I will post a new project each day this week using their stamps. At the end of the week, I will get to pick two of you to win a prize from Unity. All you need to do is comment on my blog. You can comment once a day for up to 5 chances at winning.

For my first project I wanted to share these Christmas cards I made. Elf is one of my family's favorite holiday movies. So I had to buy both these stamp sets and make a few cards to mail out to my other Elf-loving friends.

The image is from Elf Christmas and the sentiment is from Full of Merry.
Here's a close-up of the sentiment. It reads "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear".  A quote from Buddy the elf!

Mke sure you stop by each day this week and comment for your chance to win a great prize from Unity!

pumpkin spice and everything nice

It's time for the Fall Coffee Lovers blog hop!

There are dozens upon dozens of sponsors just waiting to give prizes away to those of us who link up a project this week. And many, many others are giving away prizes for commenting along the hop.

All you need to do to win is link up a coffee, tea, or hot cocoa project and/or comment on the links.

This is my first project. It has almost everything I love about fall - pumpkins, colorful leaves, cozy sweaters, and coffee!

I started with a woodgrain embossing folder. 

Then I die cut some leaves out of watercolored paper. 

The little cup is from Verve's Coffee Helps stamp set.

And that beautiful girl stamp is from Unity's Dream of Being set.

Thanks for stopping by and go check out some beautiful projets on the hop this week!

Creative Chemistry 103, Day 1 tags

Creative Chemistry 103 kicked off last week at Online Card Classes.

These are all my technique tags just from day 1:

I made this DIY Ombre tag for the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge using Hero Arts Etched Medallion and distress inks.

This next tag uses the Highlight Stamping technique and I've linked it up to Unity's color challenge.

Off-set Stamping technique:

 Washed Watercolor Technique

 Micro Glaze Resist Technique:

These were so fun to make. I can't wait to get to the rest of the days!

hello washi card

Our new challenge at The Paper Girls is to use washi tape.

I used 5 different rolls to create my panel on this black card. Then I stamped Whispy Prairie in white.

I cut the sentiment with this die and created an ombre on it with an ink blending tool.

 Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can come link up a washi tape project to our challenge!

thank you tag

Just in the nick of time, I managed to complete July's 12 tags of 2016.

I went a little cuter than normal this time.

 I used this cute elephant stamp from Unity.

Stamped and watercolored him.

Then layered the word and letter dies.

Spritzes of black marker, washi, brads, and stitching finish it up.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great weekend.

hello

I've got my last project for Summer of Creative Chemistry. 

This is the Week 8 challenge to use embossing powder and distress ink.

Spray ink and stencil for the background. Then a stencil used to emboss on white core paper and distressed.

I chose the airplane stamp for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge "Things with Wings".

The sentiment is heat embossed with a rust effect.

Fun card to make.

Thanks for stopping by!

nautical card

Today's card is for Simon Says Stamp's Monday challenge which is "Nautical/By the Sea".

I've been working through the Summer of Creative Chemistry class at Online Card Classes. This week's challenge was to make a project using alcohol inks. I used aqua, storm, and gold alcohol inks to make the background before stamping this shell. Here's a look at the gold shimmer:

So fun. 

I also used some texture paste, gold thread and beads to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

dear coffee

I've got one more project for the Summer Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop.

 I made this bookmark for all the summer reading I plan to do.

I stamped the girl image from the dream of being set from Unity. I then watercolored around her in bright summery colors. Added a little black splatter. I stamped the sentiment from this set onto black cardstock and cut it into strips. Then some colorful twine to top it off.. 

I just love this sentiment!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend!

Coffee Lovers

It's time for the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! It actually started last Friday and today is the last day of the week-long hop.

My camera battery died and I can't find the charger. I've been hoping it would turn up all week so I could post this card. But it didn't. So I was stuck using my phone on a cloudy day to photograph. Sigh.

Anyway, here is my card:

I stamped this fun image from Unity and watercolored her. Layered it on top of bright summer colors. She was fun to color. I can't wait to make up ome more! 

So go check out the hop. Lots of prizes (you can still link up a project through today) and many of the sponsors are giving away prizes on their blog as well.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend!

many thanks

Over at The Paper Girls, Michele has challenged us to use up our scraps.

Here is the card I came up with:

I only let myself use scrapsthat were already out on my desk.

I had stamped and colored the flower for a previous card but it was off-center and I had to re-stamp it. But "the mistake" was still on my desk so I trimmed it a bit and added black splatter.

The sentiment was from a stamp set sitting on my desk. I had this yellow card base I had cut for another card but ended up not liking the color. So I used it for this. I just added some leftover patterned paper from my desk as well as black washi tape.

Thanks for stopping by and come join in on the scraps challenge!

dance in the rain tag

 I finally made another Tim Holtz tag. This is the May tag.

I stamped Vintage Handwritten randomly on the tag. Then I placed some Tim Holtz tape and stamped Harmony Girl on it. The hearts are from God's Sight. Using the Schoolhouse stencil, I applied embossing paste randomly. After it was dry, I applied Fossilized Amber, Pumice Stone, and Cracked Pistachio stains. The tape acts as a resist leaving the stamped girl unstained.

Vinatge Photo ink around the tag edges. Tarnished Bronze spray stain and Blue Patina Perfect Pearls mist dripped on the tag.

A couple rosette flowers made from a book page. Crochet trim. And an Epiphany Crafts round charm hung on a loop pin. Crinkle ribbon tied on. Some random sewing.

And I realized that after I had photographed it, that I had intended to put a sentiment on it. It was going to be "Don't wait for the storm to pass. Learn to dance in the rain" which is in the same kit as the girl. But I think I like it better without. But not sure. Decisions....

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

you are so kind...

A quick card for the current challenge at The Paper Girls. We're making projects for the ladies. So I made this feminine card using pink, flowers, pleated ribbon and watercoloring.

Stamp is Let Your Dreams Bloom from Unity and I used Tattered Rose and Olive Green Distress Inks.

Thanks for stopping by today and reading!

trust your heart

I'm hosting challenge #101 over at The Paper Girls. It's a mixed media challenge. Here's the card I created:

On my background I collaged a dictionary page and shaded the edges with a charcoal pencil. Flicked some black india ink, and dripped some yellow spray stain. Stamped several flowers. Used a stencil to apply translucent embossing paste and Perfect Pearls. I distressed the edges and added aqua gelato.

Then for the main image, I stamped this flower in distress ink and then painted it with a waterbrush. Sentiment is from this kit.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you'll come enter our challenge!

robot birthday card

I'm back for my final guest designer spot this month for the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge! It has been so fun designing with those talented ladies this month!

The last challenge of the month is "We Can See Clearly" which means we're using acetate or vellum.

I decided to make a masculine shaker card for my son's birthday.

I started with a gray card base and applied translucent embossing paste through the Dot Fade stencil to give it some texture. I layered a couple papers from the Time Machine 6x6 paper pad. It's a really cool masculine pack with lots of clock parts and gears. I made sure to distress the edges too.

 I made a pocket using a page protector and the Fuse tool, stamped a robot from Robots Blueprints on it, stuffed it with mini gears, gold and silver sequins, and mini beads. I wanted the shaker portion to be used as a bookmark, so I added a metallic eyelet and ribbon to the top. And then to make it easy to remove from the card, I attached the shaker using clear photo corners. And finally, the sentiment is from Friendship Messages.

Thanks for stopping by and come link up your projects for a chance to win $50 to the Simon Says Stamp store!

Paper Girls Challenge #100

It's time for Challenge #100 over at The Paper Girls Challenge!!
I got to meet several of The Paper Girls at a Scrapbook Steals retreat a few years ago.
I decided to share some layouts from that trip for this challenge.

This first layout has a photo of the at-the-time current Paper Girls present at the retreat. Sheryl, me, Erica, Heather, and Kristy

These next layouts include a couple more future Paper Girls (Misty and Michele)

        

And I forgot to take a photo of the layout with my roommate and future Paper Girl Jessica. BUT, I did use a paper pack that Jessica gave me for these. So she's here in spirit! It was Pink Paislee's Daily Junque. I loved that paper pack.

Thanks for stopping by and please come check out Challenge #100. It is being sponsored by ScrapbookSteals. So you know the prize is gonna rock!

Today is a Good Day canvas

It's week 3 of my month as a guest designer for the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge! 

The challenge this week is Food and/or Drink.

I decided to get a little messy and pull out some paints and a 6x6 wooden canvas.

I used teal and gray acrylic paints on the background. I like to apply the paint (both colors at a time) with an old gift card or piece of heavy cardstock instead of a brush. No brush strokes and lots of cool blending. Then I tinted embossing paste with Vintage Photo distress paint and applied it using the Moroccan stencil. 

After that was dry, I used Watering Can ink with the Dot Fade stencil and Orange Blossom ink with the Cargo stencil. Then I flicked and dripped black ink and Antique Bronze, Tarnished Brass, and Fossilized Amber spray stains. Black Licorice gelato is smudged along the edges. I stamped a Simon Says Stamp/Tim Holtz Stamptember exclusive coffee stamp, which is slightly smaller than this one, on watercolor paper. I colored it with a waterbrush and Tea Dye, Gathered Twigs, Peacock Feathers, and Fossilized Amber distress ink.  Then used foam tape to put it on the canvas.

Now the hard part is deciding whether to put this in my kitchen or leave it in my craft room!

Thanks for stopping by and come link up your projects for a chance to win $50 to the Simon Says Stamp store!